How do I find the phase difference for this question?

How far out of phase should two identical waves be traveling down a rope for the combined amplitude to be equal to #2.2# times the original amplitude of each wave?

1 Answer
Daniel H.
Feb 13, 2018

If the waves are in phase, the amplitude will be 2x the original

Explanation:

If the waves are not in phase, their amplitude will be less than the 2x max amplitude, all the way down to 180 degrees out of phase will cancel the waves and their amplitude will be zero.

I think something must be missing from this problem. It's simply not possible to take 2 waves and add them together and get a total amplitude greater than 2x.

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